which was very active from 1995 to 2003, and sort of half-active from 2003 to 2007.
Now it is gone.
The Tiki Bar Review Pages site was replaced by the book Tiki Road Trip in 2003 - the second edition of which (2007) is available NOW.
See Tiki Road Trip (2007 edition) for the most up-to-date information.
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The Luau
Seattle, WA
August, 2001:
After being intrigued by the review that our northwest correspondent Tom Hemmen wrote for this web site more than a year ago, I finally had a chance to visit the Luau in Seattle in August of 2001. Tom has done an excellent job of describing the quality of the food, so his review remains below, and I will focus on other, more esoteric attributes of this neo-Tiki eatery in northwest Seattle.
Before commencing on my own review however, I'd like to point out that the urban planning department in Seattle is absolutely miserable. How was I to know that N 56th st., NW 56th st., and 56th ave. are all completely different streets, in completely different parts of town? What a nightmare! Couldn't they give some of these roads 'real' names to avoid confusion?
I'll go ahead and help them out - I have plenty of road names ready to go: Lono Drive, James Street, Moai Highway, Kamehameha Parkway, Tiki Terrace, Hot Little Hula Wahine Boulevard, Luau Lane, Lois Lane, Ku Way, No Way, One Way, Geddoudamai Way, Maori Motorway, Big Island Drive, Mai Tai Drive, Too Many Mai Tais To Drive, Better Not Drive... see, tons of 'em.
Anyway, I considered stopping at an internet cafe to look up the directions to the Luau that I knew I had posted on my very own web page, the same ones that I had not thought to bring along (see the end of Tom's review below for his thoughtful inclusion of the direction I lack), but I am far too stubborn for that, so I drove around on a scenic tour of north Seattle for an hour. By the time I found the Luau, I was pretty hungry. Our waitress 'clerk 4' (sorry, I forgot her name, good thing I saved the receipt though - next time you go there ask for clerk 4 and see what happens), was outstanding. Super friendly, very knowledgeable, and ready to accommodate. That I do remember.
I was a bit surprised at the menu. Pleasantly. You'd think that since there is a review of this place on my own web site, I would be pretty well versed about what I was getting myself into. Tom wrote the review, I just posted it. If I had read it, I would have remembered that there are directions at the end of it and saved myself a lot of headache. Hell, you don't think I read my own web site do you?
What I am getting at is that although the Luau appears to be a rather casual and laid back little bistro at first, a look at the menu can easily fool you into thinking that you've been mysteriously transported into a fine dining establishment, and one with really good food, but without a snotty maitre'd (cf. Tonga Room update).
The food?
The drinks?
The TiPSY Factor™?
You know the drill: buy Tiki Road Trip and study it as though your life depended on it:
it just might, you never know.
Here's the original review by Tom Hemmen
The pupu platter, though technically an appetizer, could work well as a light meal for the single diner. Eight or so wooden dishes and 4 bamboo skewers of meat, vegetables, and shrimp ring a small, flaming, Tiki-esque grill; lots of presentation value. The pupu offerings change frequently, but ones often seen are steamed mussels, fish cooked in a banana leaf pouch with coconut, and very hot homemade kim chee.
Oysters on the half shell, variously flavored, also appear regularly on the appetizer menu. The warm Hawaiian flat bread with sweet onion relish that comes automatically to your table before you order is one of my wife's favorite starters.
The entrees also change occasionally; part of the list seems to change over monthly. Given this, specific recommendations are difficult, but I will describe some of the food to give an overall feel for the menu, which always presents an array of tempting, expertly-prepared choices.
Meals my wife and I have enjoyed include a macadamia-crusted slice of pork loin on a bed of curried asuki beans, mussels in 5-spice broth, garnished with 3 duck-and-fig wontons, an aromatic and beautifully presented vegetarian rice dish, chow mein with plum sauce and fried eggplant, sugarcane-smoked duck, and a pulled pork sandwich served with freshly made sweet potato chips and a papaya slaw. Other menu items include baby-back ribs with a dark, spicy glaze, and Shaggy's chicken, which seems to be a menu staple - an artistic stack of jerked chicken on a bed of spiced potatoes.
If you're still hungry after this, you're in luck. Desserts are well worth saving space for, and include large, decadent offerings like coconut ice cream with macadamia brittle and Bananas Foster, a flaming platter of ice cream, sugar, nuts, rum, and, of course, a couple of bananas. These are also a good value for the money.
From I-5, going either north or south, take the 45th street exit. (This is near the University of Washington district) Get onto 45th, heading west, and go until you reach Meridian (landmark = Murphy's Irish Pub) and take a right. Stay on Meridian until you reach 56th and take another right. Go 2-3 blocks east on 56th, the Luau will be on your right. It has a round, yellow sign with Tiki on it and a grass-skirted open-air enclosure to its side -- can't miss!
Seattle, WA Summer, 2001:
We visited the Lava Lounge after watching a late night screening of Twin Peaks out takes (followed by a freshly struck print of Blue Velvet) at a private David Lynch night at the Seattle Museum of Art. What does this have to do with the Lava Lounge, or even Tiki Bars in general? Not a damned thing, other than the fact that we ordered "PABST BLUE RIBBON!" once we got to the Lava.
WHAT? I can almost hear some of you trying to call the Cool Tiki Guys Federation to get my membership revoked. I wasn't sipping a Mai Tai? I ordered BEER at a TIKI BAR? And a shitty beer at that?
Yeah fellas, but you have to understand: that's the kind of place the Lava Lounge is. This is one of those newly opened hipster bars crammed full of whatever sort of decor the owners think is cool. There's a DJ playing the latest trendy music near the back, and most of the people chillin' at the Lava don't give a blowfish's blowhole about Tiki.
All of this said, The Lava Lounge reminded me a lot of my absolute favorite non-Tiki punk rock dive bar here in Chicago, Delilah's. There are definitely a few Tiki artifacts in the Lava Lounge, but don't expect something on the level of the Kahiki or the Mai Kai here, kids. They don't have any tropical drinks to speak of, this is micro brew territory (I enjoyed the Mack and Jacks African Amber and the local fallback, Flat Tire). Not much Exotica in the house; the DJ was spinning 1970's rare groove funk and r+b.
Hardly a Tiki Bar, just a cool place to hang out that happens to have some Tiki and retro stuff mixed in among the mish-mosh decor.
Here's an older report from Dana Sixty... While this dark, little bar seemed a somewhat out of the way, in terms of the "cool" neighborhoods of Seattle, the Lava Lounge still managed to attract the typical 30-esque, alternative crowd of tiki-seekers. Unfortunately, everyone was drinking beer (and not fruity cocktails - which were unfortunately served in regular glasses - not in typical tiki mugs.) The decor seemed to be more of the focal point of this place. Could have just been the day we were there, but we found the staff to be somewhat cold and removed - maybe they were just extremely hungover, it was hard to tell. A black velvet painting of a bare-breasted Polynesian maiden graces the wooden boothed-lounge, which is decorated with tiki statues, wooden masks, and a large Godzilla statue. The bar serves up jazz and blues bands at night, and there is a jukebox with a great selection of tunes on it - including the exact same Polynesian mix CD that one frequently hears piped through the Kahiki in Columbus, Ohio. Other CDs include alternative and surf offerings.
Tom Hemmen adds: About two blocks from Ohana is Lava Lounge, a Polynesian-themed pub, which was playing Irish reels over its sound system, bizarrely, when we dropped in to see what it was about. They had some seriously ugly tikis.
South Pacific Restaurant
Olympia, WA
August 2001:
Certain parts of Olympia Washington can be hard to navigate. We were trying to get to Highway 101 from I-5 near Olympia, when we made a wrong turn and got lost. Pulling off the freeway to turn around, we ran smack dab into the South Pacific Restaurant*.
Cool!
We got out to investigate, and found that this large Chinese Restaurant is basically just that. There are some pan-Asian artifacts inside, and...
Tiki?
* = we didn't actually run into the restaurant per se, or in fact crash our car into the bricks to be more specific, what I mean to express is that we encountered it (the restuarant) in a very direct way, so to speak, we found ourselves directly in front of it, and the walked (not ran) into the premesis to investigate.